In a U.S. News & World Report article discussing 21st century skills, Andrew Rotherham of Education Sector writes:
While students should leave school with more than just facts in their head, facts do matter, too. Content undergirds critical thinking, analysis, and broader information literacy skills. To critically analyze various documents requires engagement with content and a framework within which to place the information. It’s impossible, for instance, to critically analyze the American Revolution without understanding the facts and context surrounding that event. Unfortunately, state, national, and international assessments show that despite a two-decade-long focus on standards, American schools still are not delivering a content-rich curriculum for all students.
All too often, quality content is missing from the classroom, which is why Common Core is ardently promoting a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences curriculum. As Rotherham suggests, teaching skills alone will not reverse the dearth of knowledge students have in literature, science, and social studies; only rigorous and rich content will do that.